Single rollstand web handling machine



y 1961 w. F. HUCK 2,984,429

SINGLE ROLLSTAND WEB HANDLING MACHINE Filed Dec. 6, 1957 F192 a0INVENTOR:

W. F. Hucz United States Patent SINGLE ROLLSTAND WEB HANDLING MACHINEWilliam F. Huck, Forest Hills, N.Y. (81 Greenway Terrace, Forest Hills,NY.)

Filed Dec. 6, 1957, Ser. No. 701,249

4 Claims. (Cl. 242-751) This invention relates to web-handlingmachinery, and more particularly to devices for winding or unwinding aweb of material from or to a roll which is in operative relation to arollstand.

In machines for processing continuous webs of material, such as paper orthe like, it is necessary that provisions be made for unwinding the webmaterial from a supply roll (or winding it upon a take-up roll) and forhandling the rolls in proper relation to the other operations. Thequality of the operations that are performed upon the moving continuousweb is dependent in great measure upon the speed and tension of themoving web being kept as constant as possible. In the printing art, forexample, it is of the utmost importance that the speed of the web aswell as the tension be kept within close limits, so that the finishedproduct will be of high quality, and spoilage (due to poor register, webbreakage or other causes) will be kept to a minimum. Since the inertiaof a large and heavy roll of paper or similar web material varies widelywith its changing diameter, and since its rotational speed also varieswith respect to the linear speed of material payed out or taken up, themaintainance of good tension regulation requires fairly close control ofthe speed of the supply or take-up roll. Even if more precise tensionregulators follow the supply roll location, the tension control at thesupply or take-up point must be adequate to keep the web tension withinthe control range of such precision regulators.

In addition to the problem of constant speed and tension of the web asit is being rolled or unrolled, there is the problem of handling theheavy roll of the web material either when the roll is about to beunwound and processed, or when the web has been completely processed andis ready to be removed from the machine. The prior art machines of thistype have required separate devices to move the heavy roll of materialinto operative position either at the start or completion of theoperating cycle.

It is an object of this invention to provide a novel web winding orunwinding machine that includes a completed or full roll lifting devicein combination with a web tensioning and feed mechanism to maintain thetravelling web at a tension and speed that are constant within certainpredetermined limits.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a web winding andunwinding machine that will maintain the web speed and tension constantwithin certain predetermined limits, and in which the web is eitherwound or unwound by means of a moving continuous belt that contacts theperiphery of the supply or take-up roll for the Web.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a web winding andunwinding device in which the web is removed from or wound upon a rollby means of a moving continuous belt in surface contact with the rolledweb, and in which the speed of the moving belt is automaticallycontrolled by the tension of the web being fed.

Briefly, the machine of the present invention accomice plishes itsobjects by an arrangement in which the web is fed to or from a take-upor supply roll by an endlessmoving belt which is maintained against theweb at a constant pressure, and in which the speed of the belt iscontrolled by the tension of the web itself. The same mechanism providesmeans for lifting and lowering a full web roll into or out of contactwith the endless belt for transfer of the roll to or from the floorlevel, truck, elevator or the like, and including fluid pressuremechanism for moving the full roll of the web material to or from theendless belt driving means. The mechanism operates preferably by meansof fluid pressure for lifting or lowering the full roll of the webmaterial, and which fluid pressure means also maintains the web inconstant pressure contact with the endless belt feed device, as thediameter of the roll changes, by altering the elevation of the rollcenter-line in a controlled progressive manner.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention willbecome apparent when the following specification is read in conjunctionwith the attached drawings, in which:

Figure l is a side elevation view, with certain nonessential portionsomitted, of a web handling machine which embodies this invention.

Figure 2 is a top view, partly in section, of the machine illustrated inFigure l.

The embodiment of this invention that will now be described is capableof handling rolls of material such as paper, cloth and webs of othermaterial. In addition, although the description and operation of thepreferred embodiment of the invention will be directed mainly to thehandling of a full roll of web material that is to be unwound andprocessed further, it is to be understood that this invention willoperate in just as satisfactory a manner in the handling of a web whichis being wound upon a roll after it has been processed in a desiredmanner.

This invention may be incorporated in the frame of an existing machinefor the processing of a continuous web, or it may be added as a separatemachine to be set up adjacent an existing web processing machine, as forexample, a printing press. Referring now to the drawings, the referencenumerals 10 and 12 designate the side frame members of the machine. Asjust stated, these side members may be those of an existing machine suchas a printing press which is to perform certain operations upon the web,or the side frame members 10 and 12 may be those of a separaterollstand. A supply roll of web material that is to be unwound, and theweb fed to a processing location or locations, is designated by thereference numeral 14. The supply roll 14 is wound around a hollow corepiece 16 having cone ends 18 and 20.

The hollow core piece 16 is mounted for free rotation about a spindleshaft 22 which is located transversely of the side frame members 10 and12 of the machine. Flanged sleeve bearings 24 and 26 which abut theconeshaped end members 18 and 20 are provided to reduce the friction ofrotation of the roll 14. The spindle shaft 22 extends beyond the sleevebearings 24 and 26, the ends of the shaft having clamped thereon a pairof movable support arms 28 and 30. One of the hinged clamps isillustrated in Figure 1 and designated 32. These clamps are of the quickrelease type including a screw 34 and a Wing nut 36, the screw beingpivoted as at 37 and received in a slotted end of clamp 32.

Each of the movable support arms 28 and 30 is formed as a leverrotatable about a pivot located a short distance from one end of thearm. Since the movable arms 28 and 30 are identical in structure butlocated at opposite ends of the spindle shaft 22, only one of themovable arms need be described. The lever or supporting arm is a unitaryelement formed of a long arm 38 and a short arm 40, the lever beingmounted to rotate with a transverse supporting shaft 44. The shaft 44supports both of the movable lever arms 28 and 30 and is journalled inthe side frame members and 12 by means of suitable sleeve bearings, sothat both arms will move together.

To impart movement to the movable lever arms 28 and 30, and to supportthe core piece 16 with its web supply roll 14 thereon, there is provideda pair of fluid pressure cylinders, one mounted on each of the sideframe members 10 and 12. The two pressure cylinders are identical instructure, one of them being shown in the drawings and designated 46.The fluid pressure cylinder is provided with the usual piston having apiston rod 48 extending from the lower end ofthe cylinder, and providedwith a connectinglink 50. The connecting link 50 has a forked .end 52bored to receive therethrough a connecting pin 54 which also passesthrough the end of the short arm 40 of the movable lever 28. Thecylinders, which are mounted for limited pivoting motion on the sideframe members, are supplied with fluid under pressure through a supplyline 55 having a gauge 59 and an adjustable regulating valve.57 so thatthe pressure of the fluid within the cylinders may be set at the desiredvalue.

In this invention the web is either unwound from or wound upon the corepiece 16 by means of an endless moving belt 56 which contacts the webupon the roll 14 over a considerable arc. The fluid pressure cylinders46 maintain the web roll 14 at a constant pressure against the endlessmoving belt 56 so that the web which is being unwound or wound upon thecore piece 16 is urged in the desired direction of travel by a forcewhich is applied over aconsiderable area and length of the web beinghandled, and less danger of the endless moving belt 56 being rupturedbecause of fluctuations in contact pressure between roll 14 and belt 56.In this way there is less danger of the web being torn or ripped becauseof a purely tensile force applied to it. Since the pressure cylindersassure that the web roll 14 is being urged against the endless movingbelt 56 at a constant pressure, the rate of feed of the web either fromor to the roll upon the core piece 16 does not vary as the diameter ofthe roll 14 varies. The endless moving belt 56 passes around pulleys 58,60, and 62 as seen in Figure 1. The belt 56 may be made in any widththat is desirable, it being obvious that the wider the belt, thegreaterthe web area that will be contacted to apply the moving'force tofeed the web in the desired direction. The pulleys 58 and 60 are mountedon shafts 64 and 66 respectively, the shafts being mounted transverselyin the side frame members 10 and 12. The pulley 62 is mounted upon thetransverse shaft 68 which is situated lower'than the shafts 64'and 66 inorder that the endless belt 56 may-wrap around a considerable arc of theweb supply roll 14.

The web being unwound from the supply roll 14 is designated W and iscaused to follow a serpentine path as it is being unwound. As it leavesthe supply roll 14, the web W is fed downwardly around a roller 70 whichis mounted upon a transverse shaft support in the side .frame members 10and 12. From the roller 70 the web W then travels laterally to passaround a floating roller 72. Reversing direction, the web W passesaround a roller .74 to a roller 76, then vertically as to a roller 78 tobe fed from themachine in any desired direction. The rollers '74, 76,and 78 are, like the roller 78, mounted upon:transverse shafts supportedin the side frame members 10 and 12. The rollers 70, 74, 76, and 78 arefixed with respect tothe machine frame, whereas the floating roller 72is movable with respect to rollers '78 and 74in a manner to bedescribed. The'ends of the roller 72 are supported ormounted upon a pairof crank arms 8tl and 82 each of which is supported on and pivotswith.awtransverseashaft 84 supported by the side frame members 10 and12. As seen in Figure 1, the roller 72 is mounted between the lower endsof the crank arms and 82, so that as the crank arms 80 and 82 arerota-ted with the pivot shaft 84 the roller 72 will move either towardsor away from the rollers 70 and 74. The upper end of the crank arm 82carries an idler roller 86 for a purpose to be described presently. Thecrank arms are biased to urge the roller 72 in a direction away from therollers 70 and 74 so that the web being unwound from the supply roll iskept under tension. The biasing of the roller 72 is accomplished by.means of a spring 88 which is connected for example to the crank 82 bymeans of pin 90. The other end of the spring 88 is anchored to themachine frame by means of an adjustable threaded anchor bolt 92.

The moving endless belt 56 used to unwind the web from the supply rollis powered by means of a V-belt 94driven by a \I -b elt pulley 96. The Vbelt 94 passes around the power pulley 96 and then around avariablespeed pulley 98 mounted upon the shaft 68 which also carries the endlessbelt roller 62. The V belt power pulley 96 isaflixed to one end of astub shaft 100 mounted in the side frame member 12. The other end of thestub shaft 100' has mounted thereon .a bevel gear 102 which mesheswith agear '104,that is driven'by the main process machine or some otheravailable source of power. The movement of the crank 82 in a clockwisedirection because of increased web tension acting through the roller 72will cause the pressure roller 86 to be urged up against the outside ofthe lower pass of the V-belt 94 as seen clearly in Figures 1 and 2.Increased pressure by the roller 86 upon the Vbelt 94 will decrease theeffective length of the V belt 94 and thus cause the variable speedpulley 98 to expand axially so that the belt 94 runs on asmallerradiusof pulley 98. This increases the rotational speed of the pulley 98causing the endless belt 56 to travel at a greater speed. Unwinding theweb from the supply roll 14 at the greater speed will compensate for anyincrease in web tension that was sensed by themovement of the web roller72 in a clockwise direction.

In the operation of this invention as it is used for the unwinding of afull roll of web material to be fed to some processing station, the fullsupply roll 14 of the web material, as indicated in dotted lines inFigure 1, has been moved to the machine and is resting on the flood or acarriage. After the shaft 22 has been fitted into the center of the fullroll 14, the ends of the shaft are clamped to the movable support arms28 and 30 by means of the clamps 32. The supply rollisgready to be movedupwardly into its full-line position against the endless belt '56 afterthe web has been threaded around the rollers 70, 72, 74, 76 and 78. Thepressureregulating valve 57 is then opened, permitting the fluid underpressure to enter the feed line 55 and each ofthe actuating cylinders46. The short end 40 of each of the crank arms 28 is pushed downwardly,pivoting the upper end 38 and thus lifting the supply rollto contact theendless belt 56. The pressure gauge 59 indicates the magnitude of thepressure within the actuating cylinders 46, and may be calibrated interms of contact force between the web supply roll 14 and the endlessbelt 56. Since the fluid pressure within the actuating cylinders 46 ismaintained constant, the supply roll 14 willalways be urged against theendless belt 56 at the same pressure regardless of the diameter of theroll as it is being unwound. The actuating cylinders will urge thesupply roll 14 upwardly against the endless belt 56 at a constantpressure throughout the entire unwinding procedure. The location ofsupportingshaft 44 and cylinders 46, and the varying turningmomentsabout shaft 44 occurring during unwinding are all proportioned so thatconstant pressure within cylinders 46 is converted to a constant contactpressure between/belt 56 and the surfaceof roll 14 at all operatingpositions of the support arms 28 and 30.

If during the unwinding of the web from the supply roll 14 there is anincrease in web tension to the right side of the unit, the floatingroller 72 carried on the lower end of the crank arm 80 will be rotatedclockwise about the pivot shaft 84. This will cause the idler roller 86to be forced up against the lower reach of the V belt 56, decreasing itseffective length, forcing the variable speed pulley 98 to expand, andthereby increasing its rotational speed which is imparted to the endlessbelt 56 and the unwinding web. In this way any increased tension in theweb is compensated by the speeding up of the web unwinding from thesupply roll. The magnitude of the web tension as it is being unwound maybe controlled by the tension of the biasing spring 88. A reduction inoutgoing web tension will produce a corrective lowering of the unwindingspeed in the same manner.

The operation of this machine for the winding of a web upon a core afterthe web has been processed is obvious, being the reverse of theoperation just described. The leading edge of the web is taken from thelast processing step and is threaded around the rollers 78, 76, 74, 72and 70 and then wrapped for a few turns around the core piece 16 whichis already mounted and clamped to the movable arms 28 and 30. The valve57 is opened to admit fluid under pressure to each of the pressurecylinders so that the core piece is urged up against the endless belt 56at the required pressure, and the power then turned on to drive theendless belt 56 in a direction opposite to that used for the unwindingprocess described above. The web then is wound upon the core piece 16,the speed and the tension of the web being kept within the desiredlimits as explained above in connection with the operation of themachine in the unwinding procedure. When the roll 14 has reached thedesired dimension the power is shut off, the web is cut, and the fluidunder pressure in the cylinders is permitted to escape slowly; forexample, valve 57 may have a release position. With the pressure in thecylinders slowly reduced, the movable support arms 28 and 30 will pivotabout the shaft 44 bringing the full roll 14 slowly downward until itrests on the floor or carriage .as shown in dotted lines in Figure 1.

During rewind operation, the machine is arranged just as shown in Figure1, except of course that the lower run of V-belt 94 must be moved so asto pass under idler roller 86 at the upper extension of crank arm 82, toassure the desired response of the variable speed drive to tensionchanges.

Having set forth the preferred embodiment of the invention, and havingexplained its mode of operation, I wish it to be understood that manychanges and modifications may be made in the apparatus without departingfrom the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A continuous web unwinding machine comprising a web supply roll,fluid pressure means for moving said web supply roll through an are froman inoperative position to an operative position, endless belt means forcontacting said web on said supply roll, means for moving said endlessbelt so that the web is unwound from said supply roll, said fluidpressure means also acting to continuously support and urge said supplyroll against said endless belt at a regulated pressure to move said rolltoward said belt as said web is being unwound and said supply rolldecreases in diameter, and means for controlling the speed of saidendless belt in accordance with the tension of the web being unwoundfrom said supply roll.

2. In a continuous web handling machine, the combination comprising acore for a web supply roll, a pair of movable support arms for said websupply roll core, fluid pressure cylinders for moving said movablesupport arms through an are from an inoperative position to an operativeposition, an endless belt for contacting said web supply roll over aconsiderable peripheral extent thereof, a variable speed drive means foroperating said endless belt means, tension sensing means for the web ata point removed from said web roll, said sensing means being operativeto change the speed of said variable speed drive means in proportion tothe changes in web tension, whereby said endless belt is driven at aspeed proportional to the tension of the web, said fluid pressurecylinders also acting to continuously urge said movable support armstoward said endless belt at a regulated pressure, whereby said movablesupport arms are continuously movable toward and away from said belt toaccommodate changes in the diameter of said web roll as web material ispayed out or taken up.

3. In a continuous web handling machine, the combination comprising, aweb roll, a machine frame, a pair of pivoted support arms mounted onsaid frame for moving said web roll in an are from an inoperativeposition to an operative position within said frame, a pair of fluidpressure cylinders mounted upon said frame for actuating said pivotedsupport arms, an endless belt for contacting said web roll to impartmotion to the web, a variable speed drive for driving said endless belt,a plurality of rollers over which the web passes, one of said rollersbeing a web tension sensing roller, said last named roller havingconnected therewith means acting upon said variable speed drive when theweb undergoes a change in tension to cause said drive to change speedwhereby a change in web tension is corrected by a change in the speed ofthe web, said fluid pressure cylinders also acting to continuously urgesaid web roll toward said endless belt at a regulated pressure, wherebysaid web roll is continuously movable toward and away from said endlessbelt to accommodate changes in the diameter of said roll as Web materialis payed out or taken up.

4. In a continuous web handling machine, the combination comprising aweb roll, a machine frame, a web roll drive means, and a single meansfor raising said web roll from a lower inoperative position to anelevated operative position to continuously urge said web roll withconstant pressure against said web roll drive means, said single meansincluding a pair of pivoted support arms, a pair of fluid pressurecylinders for actuating said sup port arms, said web roll drive meanscomprising an endless belt contacting said web roll over a large are onthe upper periphery thereof, a variable speed drive for driving saidendless belt, and a web tension sensing means, said web tension sensingmeans arranged to act upon said variable speed drive to vary the speedof said endless belt in accordance with changes in tension of the web,whereby the speed of the endless belt is varied to compensate forchanges in web tension, and said single means is continuously movablewith respect to said endless belt to accommodate changes in the diameterof said web roll as web material is payed out or taken up.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,621,736 Scruggs et al. Dec. 16, 1952 2,670,907 Huck Mar. 2, 19542,710,153 Baumrucker et al. June 7, 1955 2,837,293 Clem June 3, 1958FOREIGN PATENTS 251,297 Great Britain Oct. 21, 1926

